Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

86 GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BAKN8TABLE FAMILIES.
pleasant, delightful, &c.,and of au-qut, a cove or inlet of the aea.
As the water of the river or harbor is salt, the Indian, though he
called it we-ko-ne, the prime meaning whereof is sweet, did not intend
that the word should be so understood ; but in some of its
many other meanings ; that is fair or pleasant. Au-qut has already
been fully explained in a note. It means a cove, not so
large and deep as to be called a bay or a harbor, yet navigable
for canoes and small vessels. We-qua-quet in English would
therefore be pleasant harbor or pleasant cove.
By adding the common terminal et or only e, we have the
name of the place or village., We-qua-quett, which literally translated
would be Pleasant Harbor or village or Pleasantville.
There is poetry in the name. The Indian did not erect his
wigwam on the sea shore, but on the margin of the crystal waters
of its ponds, and on the banks of the clear brooks that fall into
the We-qua-qut, the name is sometimes written We-koh-quet,
Here we have an additional word, koh, a contraction of oh-ke,
fields, and without calling the imagination to our aid we may
translate the name thus, "Sweet fields beyond the swelling
floods." The only straining of the meaning of any of the radical
words is that of et, it is rendered beyond instead of here or on this
side. The unabreviated Indian words are We-kone, sweet, oh-ke,
fields, et, here in this place, or on this side au-qut, enclosed
waters or swelling floods at the rise of the tides.
We-koh-quat, fair weather, Cotton, We-kin-cau-quat, Williams,
are words that resemble We-qua-quett and may be the same.
Cotton translates We-ken-eauk-qut warm weather. Quot or quat
is a different word from qut or quet. It means weather and has
no reference to a cove or to waters. I find the last syllable of
the name spelt hut, hunt, quutt, but not with the broad sound of
quot or quat.
There is another word from which the name may be derived,
namely : we-quash, a torch or light—also the name of the swan.
We-quash also has a meaning, to express which we have no corresponding
word in English, it has therefore been anglicised. To
we-quash, or we-quashing, is to spear fish by the light of a torch
placed in the bows of a canoe. It is a good sport on a calm
evening. The fish are attracted by the light, and fall an easy
prey to the sportsman. Along the sandy beaches and in the clear
waters of the We-qua-qut, the red man's torch often spread its
flickering light over the surface, and the white men, spear in hand,
often engages in the same sport. If the name is hence derived,
its equivalent in English will be Torch Light Cove.
The Indians called the swan We-quash because it sits so
ightly and gracefully on the water. Like the Torch Light Sportsman,
it suddenly darts down upon its unsuspecting prey. If this